Every so often, the magnet will stick to the wall a bit on the stud location. Dangle the magnet against the wall and slowly move it horizontally across the wall. It works every time! Grab the strongest magnet you have and tie a piece of dental floss or string around it. This is my favorite method and the reason is simple. Move along the wall and look for a pattern to show itself, and you’ll slowly be able to see your stud spacing. Once your knuckle hits the spots where a stud is located, the sound will change to more of a dull thud. When you knock on wall sections without a stud, you will hear more resonance from the hollow space behind. This one may seem old fashioned, but gently knocking your hand along the wall and listening for differences is a pretty accurate technique to find studs. although many old houses may have unusual stud spacing so this method may not work for everyone.
(on center) and some were framed 24″ O.C. Most houses built in the last 100 years were framed 16″ O.C. Once you find the stud, you can measure off 16″ to find the next one most times. Either turn the breaker off, or be careful not to touch any wires before attempting this or you can get a nasty shock. To see which side the stud is on, take the switch plate cover off and take a peak inside. Though there may be an occasional free floating box in an old home, you have an excellent chance of finding a stud on one side of the box. The third trick is my personal favorite because it never fails! #1 Find an Electrical BoxĮlectrical boxes for outlets and light switches are supposed to be attached to studs. Try these simple and time tested tricks to find studs in a plaster wall the next time you need to hang something in your old house. Most smaller items can be hung pretty securely anywhere on the wall by screwing into the wood lath, but for heavy things that weight more than 10-15 lbs, like large mirrors and TVs, you’ll need to learn how to find studs in a plaster wall.ĭon’t waste your money on that stud finder. I prefer to play it safe for peace of mind.If you own an old house with plaster and lath walls, you may have discovered how utterly useless a stud finder can be. You cannot lift them single handed (well I can't anyway) and you really do not want them coming off. Whilst possibly over the top but these radiators are seriously heavy and more so when filled with water (they take a lot). With the larger verticals and no feet I found it easier to take down the lathe and plaster and build a studwork frame to suit the radiator fixings before plasterboarding and re-skimming. With the largest of the column cast iron rads I have fitted I removed a horizontal rectangle of the lathe and plaster and fixed timber at the height of the studs before plastering back over. I would strongly recommend buying the Zircon stud detector which I have found excellent and picking up the line of small lathe nails. The radiator stays can go between any of columns to suit the stud spacing. The advantage to the columns is you have much more leeway that with the majority of standard radiators where it will be fixed. In my experience the rad brackets never align with two sets of studs even with the small amount of horizontal play. Still I would want it fixed to the studs. The majority of the weight is being directed straight down. With the rads like the one pictured I would use feet like mentioned above if at all possible. Current task is a wall hung vertical weighing in a 68Kg dry to lathe and plaster. Have had and am still having the same problem as yourself.